Pilot Communications

This is an archive of all communications sent out regarding the 17-18 State Model Evaluation System Pilot.

04/16/18 | Spring Survey Links

03/19/18 | Spring Pilot Convening and End-of-Year Deadlines

01/24/18 | Baseline Findings for Pre-Survey

01/12/18 | Mid-Year Review Reminder

10/12/17 | Self-Assessment Reminder

08/17/17 | Pilot Communication #5

08/08/17 | Pilot Communication #4

08/01/17 | Survey Links

07/27/17 | Pilot Communication #3

07/13/17 | Pilot Communication #2

06/29/17 | Pilot Communication #1

Spring Survey Links

Thank you for your participation in the pilot of the State Model Evaluation System for Teachers! As a part of the pilot, the Educator Effectiveness Office distributes fall and spring surveys to gauge educators’ perceptions of the impact, quality, and scale of the State Model Evaluation System for Teachers and determine next steps for changes in the system. This email provides information on the spring survey administration.

The Spring Year-End survey will ask educators about their perceptions of the evaluation process for this current school year. The window for this spring survey is from April 16 – April 30 and should take no longer than 10-15 minutes to complete. Should a teacher not receive an email with the survey link, you are able to forward the link to them directly. Please note, this survey should only go to teachers who were evaluated on the State Model Evaluation System, not Specialized Service Professionals or other non-teacher stakeholders.

Please follow the link below to complete the spring survey. Note: you are able to complete the survey in more than one sitting, if necessary. Your responses to this survey will be directly accessed by a researcher in the Educator Talent Unit at CDE and will be used for system improvement. All reports issued by the researcher will report aggregate scores only, eliminating individually identifiable information. Please remember there are no right answers to these questions and your responses will be confidential!

State Model Evaluation System Pilot – Spring Year-End Teacher Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/pilot_spr_teacher
State Model Evaluation System Pilot – Spring 2018 Year-End Principal/Evaluator Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/pilot_spr_p-ev
State Model Evaluation System Pilot – Spring 2018 Year-End District/BOCES Leadership Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/pilot_spr_leadership

Thank you for all that you do, including providing actionable feedback that helps us learn from you and improve the State Model Evaluation System!

Thank you for all your efforts,

The Educator Effectiveness Team

Spring Pilot Convening and End-of-Year Deadlines

Happy Monday!

I hope this email finds you well and you’re ready to officially move into spring!

We are looking forward to meeting with you all next month at our Spring Pilot Convening! You and your team can now register by April 9 for the event by visiting https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/spring_pilot_reg. This will allow for us to have an accurate count to order our lunches.

Also, as we’re beginning to close in on the end of the school year, remember we have the following MOU deadlines approaching for the rest of the year:

End-of-Year review/conference completed by approximately April 15^th
Revised Teacher Rubric Feedback Survey window from April 15^th, 2018 to April 30^th, 2018
Final professional practice ratings completed no later than May 1, 2018
Final MSL and overall effectiveness ratings completed no later than June 9, 2018

There is nothing you need to do on your end for reporting purposes; we just wanted to send along this quick reminder to help keep you on track to meet the MOU requirements. We will be pulling all evaluation and professional practice rating information directly from RANDA after the May 1 deadline.

As always, should you have any questions or need support, feel free to reach out to your Regional Specialist!

Thank you all for our continued work in this pilot!

The Educator Effectiveness Team

Baseline Findings for Pre-Survey

Good morning,

As part of the Colorado State Model Evaluation System Pilot, your educators were asked to complete a survey in the fall. This pre-survey asked educators about their perceptions of the evaluation process from last school year, 2016-17. You can find the Baseline Findings from the Pre-Survey for all pilot districts on the pilot website. I have attached the report for your specific district/BOCES to this email.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

The Educator Effectiveness Team

Mid-Year Review Reminder

Happy 2018!

This is a friendly reminder we are quickly approaching the deadline for your educators to complete the mid-year review! February 1^st is the requested date for this evaluation activity be completed. At this time, the educator being evaluated and the evaluator should review progress to date toward achieving professional goals, measures of student learning/outcomes, and their progress on the rubric. Barriers to completing goals and refining existing goals should be discussed as needed. As a result of this review, every educator should have a clear understanding of what needs to be accomplished in order to achieve their performance goals by the end of the year. As we think about the meaningfulness of this activity and how it impacts identifying possible supports for the school year, it is imperative that educators complete this step in a timely fashion.

There is nothing you need to do on your end for reporting purposes; we just wanted to send along this quick reminder to help keep you on track to meet the MOU requirements.

As always, should you have any questions or need support, feel free to reach out to your Regional Specialist!

Thank you all for our continued work in this pilot!

The Educator Effectiveness Team

Self-Assessment Reminder

Happy fall everyone!

We just wanted to send a friendly reminder that we are quickly approaching the deadline for your educators to complete their self-assessments! October 15^th is the requested date that this evaluation activity be completed. As we think about the meaningfulness of this activity and how it impacts goal setting and identifying possible supports for the school year, it is imperative that educators complete this step in a timely fashion. There is nothing you need to do on your end for reporting purposes; we just wanted to send along this quick reminder to help keep you on track to meet the MOU requirements!

As always, should you have any questions or need support, feel free to reach out to your Regional Specialist!

Thank you all for our continued work in this pilot!

The Educator Effectiveness Team

Pilot Communication #5

Hi everyone!

We wanted to reach out and provide some information regarding our pilot gathering coming up in September, lodging deadlines for that gathering, and the baseline surveys now in the hands of your educators. Please use the information below to aid planning for the gathering and communication regarding the survey.

Pilot Gathering Registration

As a reminder, registration for the pilot gathering to be held on Tuesday, September 19^th in Keystone is now open. Remember, this gathering is a time for you to continue to grow your knowledge of the changes in the State Model Evaluation System and connect with your fellow pilot districts to discuss successes and challenges. As you are thinking about attendees, remember the value in bring a team to engage in activities and planning. Please pass along the registration link to those team members who will be attending the gathering. Remember, all attendees need to register to ensure accurate numbers for food and materials. Registration will close on Wednesday, September 13^th, so please be sure to communicate this information as soon as possible.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/886XRGP

Pilot Gathering Room Reservation

Once you have registered for the pilot gathering, the next step is to determine if you or your team will require lodging. Review the lodging informational flyer for you should you need the link or phone number to make your reservation. As a reminder, all lodging costs are the responsibility of the individual. Room reservations must be made by this Friday, August 18^th, so please be sure to communicate this information clearly to your folks and as soon as possible.

Educator Baseline Survey Window Closing August 31^st

Per the expectations in the MOU, our baseline survey window opened on August 1^st and will be closing on August 31^st. As we are quickly approaching the closing date for the survey, please remind your educators, including teachers, principals, and district leadership, to take the approximate 10 minutes to complete the survey. Remember, all survey links can be found on the semi-hidden website linked below (remember, if you haven’t book marked this site, be sure to do so!! J).

https://www.cde.state.co.us/educatoreffectiveness/statemodelevaluationsystem-pilot

As always, please be sure to reach out to your Regional Specialist should you have any questions or concerns moving forward!

We look forward to connecting with you!
The Educator Effectiveness Team

Pilot Communication #4

Hi everyone!

Hopefully many of you noticed how extensive our email list has gotten above!? Our final pilot count includes 43 districts, 5 BOCES, and one charter collaborative! All we can say is WOW! Talk about incredible involvement in supporting the continuous improvement of the State Model Evaluation System. We don’t say it enough, so THANK YOU! In addition to sharing this information, we also wanted to pass along two bits of information detailed below!

State Model Evaluation System Pilot Gathering – Tuesday, September 19^th in Keystone

As I’m sure you all recall, we had sent out a “Save the Date” for a gathering just for our pilot districts and BOCES set for Tuesday, September 19^th in Keystone. We now have a registration link for you and anyone else you would like to attend. Please have all those planning to attend complete this registration form, which should take no longer than about 2 minutes to complete. It is essential that all team members attending complete the registration form to ensure we have an accurate count of participants for food and activities. We certainly recommend you bringing a team of your folks; be sure to use your context and system processes to determine who should attend. Breakfast and lunch will be provided, however, any lodging costs will fall to each individual. There is an informational flyer for you detailing resort information, including discount codes should you take advantage of available lodging. Should you have any logistical questions, please feel free to contact Renee Lovato, who is also listed on the attached flyer.

Registration link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/886XRGP

We know many of you have seen information about an EE Leaders Retreat being held the day before our pilot gathering on September 18^th. While you are certainly free to attend both days, we highly recommend attending the pilot convening on the 19^th, rather than attending the 18^th. For many of you, the information shared on the 18^th is information you may have already shared with your educators and would only serve as a review. Knowing how incredibly busy your schedules are, please be sure to prioritize the pilot convening on the 19^th.

Reminder on Semi-Hidden Pilot Site

In previous communications, we’ve shared information about a semi-hidden website created specifically for pilot districts/BOCES. Recently added to this page are all the communications, and corresponding documents and/or links, that have been sent out to pilot districts thus far. This is especially helpful for many of our newly added pilot districts who may be seeing this information for the first time, but still a valuable resource for all those involved. We highly encourage you to bookmark this page and also send the link out to those educators you feel would benefit from this information, including administrators and/or teachers.

Be sure to bookmark this webpage and send it allow to the appropriate folks in your district/BOCES: https://www.cde.state.co.us/educatoreffectiveness/statemodelevaluationsystem-pilot

As always, thank you all so very much for your involvement in this work! Please feel free to reach out to your Regional Specialist should you have any questions or need any guidance!

Thank you all again,

The Educator Effectiveness Team

Survey Links

Dear pilot participant,

The Fall 2017 baseline survey will ask educators about their perceptions of the evaluation process from last school year, 2016-17. Each survey contains approximately 20 questions and should take no longer than 15 minutes. To ensure we capture educator’s perceptions from last school year, the window for this fall survey is from August 1^st through August 31^st. If you are a brand new educator to the State Model Evaluation System, you do not need to complete this survey. Should an administrator not receive an email with the survey link, you are able to forward the link to them directly. Please note, this survey should only go to educators who had experience with the State Model Evaluation System, not Specialized Service Professionals or other non-administrative stakeholders.

Please follow the link below to complete the fall baseline survey. Note you are able to complete the survey in more than one sitting, if necessary. Your responses to this survey will be directly accessed by a researcher in the Educator Effectiveness Office at CDE and will be used for systems improvement. All reports issued by the researcher will report aggregate scores only, eliminating individually identifiable information. Please remember there are no right answers to these questions and your responses will be confidential!

Teacher Survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HNCX7JF

Principal/Evaluator Survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HZYZB9T

District/BOCES Leadership Survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P9M3W69

Thank you for all that you do, including providing actionable feedback that helps us learn from you and improve the State Model Evaluation System!

Thank you for all your efforts,

The Educator Effectiveness Team

Pilot Communication #3

Happy Almost-Start-of-the-School Year!

We hope everyone is off and running with the new school year! We wanted to reach out to you and let you know about the upcoming survey window that will open Tuesday, August 1^st for teachers, principals, and leadership. As you’ll recall in the MOU, we will be surveying all educators in the fall of 2017 and again in the spring of 2018 in order to collect educator perceptions on the shifts in the rubric and scoring aligned to the pilot. These perceptions will inform changes to the State Model Evaluation System moving forward.

The Fall 2017 baseline survey will ask educators about their perceptions of the evaluation process from last school year, 2016-17. Each survey contains approximately 20 questions and should take no longer than 15 minutes. To ensure we capture educator’s perceptions from last school year, the window for this fall survey is from August 1^st through August 31^st. On Tuesday, August 1^st, an email will be sent directly to all educators’ emails. RANDA will provide your educator emails based on your entries into the Colorado Performance Management System. Brand new educators who cannot provide perceptions from last year’s evaluation process do not need to complete this survey. Should an educator not receive an email with the survey link, you are able to forward the link to them directly.

As a reminder, all answers to the survey questions are confidential and will always be reported in the aggregate, eliminating individually identifiable information. Please feel free to communicate this point to your educators as reassurance.

We are sending you this email now so you are able to communicate the district/BOCES plans for engagement in the pilot and completion of this survey. Should you have any questions or need any support in communicating this information, please feel free to reach out directly to your Educator Effectiveness Regional Specialist.

Thank you all again for your involvement in this pilot and always be sure to reach out with any questions you may have!

The Educator Effectiveness Team

Pilot Communication #2

Greetings Pilot Participants!

In my last lengthy email, I mentioned new and exciting resources and support coming your way, and here it is! This email details three different bits of information containing different links, documents, and new contact people!

Meet Your Educator Effectiveness Regional Specialist!
As you hopefully recall from my last email, I shared that our office would be moving to a new regional support model. This model really came about in response to a need expressed in the field and we are excited to introduce you to your assigned specialist! Feel free to visit our new Regional Specialist webpage containing a detailed region map and a listing of all other Regional Specialists. Certainly always feel free to reach out to our other Educator Effectiveness team members as well, and they can be found on our Contact Us webpage.

2017-18 Pilot Orientation
The 2017-18 School Year Orientation Training Power Point provides schools, districts, and BOCES all the information needed to share with staff about changes to the Colorado State Model Evaluation System. This orientation has been created specifically for pilot districts and will differ slightly in comparison to the orientation power point provided to all non-pilot districts. We encourage you to utilize the notes contained below each slide for additional context, information, and support when delivering this information to your educators. This is also a great opportunity to connect with your Regional Specialist to help determine training needs, planning, and any additional context you may need before providing this information to your educators. The orientation power point is attached to this email for your convenience and is also found on the website specifically for pilot sites detailed below.

Semi-Hidden Pilot Website
We’ve created this site to serve as a one-stop shop for all things related to the pilot, including the revised teacher rubric and supporting documents, the 2017-18 orientation power point, changes to scoring the professional practice and overall effectiveness ratings, and opportunities for feedback on all changes associate with this pilot. We highly encourage you to bookmark this page, as you will not be able to find it on our website menu of options. Found on this page are two new documents further detailing the revisions to the rubric and scoring, as well as two webinars to support you when exploring scoring implications in your district. These are another great reason to connect with your Regional Specialist!

Hopefully this information will prove helpful as you continue your planning for the coming pilot school year. Be on the lookout for communication from your Regional Specialist, and as always, please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have!

Thank you all again for your continued support of this work!

The Educator Effectiveness Team

Pilot Communication #1

Greetings Pilot Districts!

Thank you all again so very much for your willingness to pilot all the changes to the State Model Evaluation System during the 2017-18 school year! As we prepare for this pilot year, we wanted to pass along some information and resources. Here is the finalized version of the revised teacher rubric! Feel free to distribute this as you see fit, taking into account planned trainings and support. This version of the revised teacher rubric will be available in COPMS/RANDA to your districts by July 17^th. July 17^th is the first day you will be able to enable the new school year in the system; however, you’ll want to make all changes (role and school changes, removing stakeholders who have left your district, adding new employees, etc.) in identity management prior to enabling, so hopefully that helps with your planning as well.

In addition to the revised teacher rubric, we will also be making available a “hidden” website specifically for pilot districts. This site will contain additional supporting resources, including more detailed information about changes to the rubric, the shifts in scoring, as well as informational webinars. These resources are currently being finalized and as soon as they are ready, we reach back out! We apologize for this delay and appreciate your patience!

Our team has also set aside a day to gather all interested pilot districts to collaborate, strategize, and plan for this pilot year and moving forward. This day is completely optional, but we certainly encourage all teams interested to attend. If you are interested in attending this day of learning together, please hold Tuesday, September 19^th on your calendars. This collaboration session will be held in Keystone at the River Run Resort, so you may also want that information to help determine the number of folks you want to attend and how far your travel will be to that event. While attendance at this collaboration session is free, travel costs will be at the attendees’ expense, so that is also something to consider. We will be reaching out with more information about this day, including logistics and an agenda, in future communications.

Finally, we wanted to send along a copy of some communication that was recently released about some shifts in our team composition and the ways in which we support districts. Starting this summer, we will be deploying regional specialists to support the work of evaluation. A big part of their role will be supporting pilot districts and all supports can and will be individualized to meet your needs. We will be sending future communications to you regarding your actual regional specialist and his or her contact information so you are able to utilize their services as you plan for the roll out of this pilot.

New Regional Specialists to Join EE Team
The Educator Effectiveness (EE) Office is shifting how it will provide support to the field. Based on feedback, new regional specialists have been added to the EE team and will be deployed to support districts/BOCES as they work to enhance their evaluation practices. The regional specialist model will aid districts/BOCES in supporting educator practice and building an integrated, systematic approach to educator evaluation.

As the 2017-18 school year begins, members of the team will be available to meet with districts/BOCES to discuss local needs. Please look for future communication regarding the regional specialist in your area and opportunities to meet them.

Thank you all again for your continued support of this work! Should you have any questions or concerns, certainly feel free to reach out!

The Educator Effectiveness Team